Contextual determination of emotion icons

ABSTRACT

A method, computer program product, and system for contextual determination of emotion icons. The method includes, for a particular user, determining an emotion icon to automatically input into a message, based on a class of the user, a current mood of the user, and the recipient of the message. The determined emotion icon is then inserted into the message.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of media content,and more particularly to automatically converting and displaying anemotion icon based on a learned estimation of the meaning of the emotionicon, and creating new emotion icons based on the learned estimation andconversion of the emotion icon.

The use of emoticons, emotisounds, and emojis is ubiquitous in society,and is an important means and adjunct to convey emotional and relatednuances in conversations and communications, for example, e-mails,instant messages, and chats. Often, text alone can be insufficient forconveying tone, motivation, and mood, and is prone to misinterpretationby a receiving individual. Further, an emoticon or icon on their own canalso be misinterpreted by a receiving individual.

An emoticon often expresses a user's feelings or mood and some deviceshave provided stylized pictures that do not use punctuation. As socialmedia has become more widespread, emoticons often play a significantrole in communication through technology. Emoticons offer a differentrange of ‘tone’ and feeling through texting, which portrays specificemotions through facial gestures, during a text-based communication.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method forcontextual determination of emotion icons is provided. The methodcomprises: determining, by one or more processors, for a user, at leastone emotion icon to automatically input into a message, based on a classof the user and a recipient of the message, wherein the at least oneemotion icon is determined, in part, based on a detected current mood ofthe user and the recipient; and inserting, by one or more processors,the determined at least one emotion icon into the message.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a computer programproduct for the contextual determination of emotion icons, based on themethod described above.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a computer systemfor the contextual determination of emotion icons, based on the methoddescribed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a distributed dataprocessing environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operational steps for automaticallygenerating an emotion icon based on cognitive considerations and usercohorts, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts an example conversation in which embedded icons are used,in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of internal and external components of thecomputing devices of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 6 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An emoticon is a metacommunicative pictorial representation of a facialexpression that, in the absence of body language and prosody, serves todraw a recipient's attention to the tenor or temper of a sender'snominal non-verbal communication, changing and improving itsinterpretation. An emotisound is a brief sound transmitted and playedback during the viewing of a message. Emoji are ideograms and smileysused in electronic messages and Web pages. The characters exist invarious genres, such as facial expressions, common objects, places,animals, and types of weather. For purposes of the present disclosure,‘emotion icon’ includes an emoticon, emotisound, emoji, and any similarcommunication icons.

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods forcommunicating emotion icons along with a means for learning the meaningof the emotion icons via context for one or more users, or cohorts ofusers. Embodiments of the present invention further provide systems andmethods for automatically converting and displaying emotion icons basedon the learning, and automatically creating new emotion icons based onthe learning. Embodiments of the present invention provide systems andmethods for providing feedback as to the efficacy and/or accuracy of thecreated emotion icons. Further, embodiments of the present inventionprovide systems and methods for removing emotion icons from acommunication and embedding suppressed emotion icons in a communication.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference tothe Figures. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating adistributed data processing environment, generally designated 100, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Modifications todistributed data processing environment 100 may be made by those skilledin the art without departing from the scope of the invention as recitedby the claims. In an exemplary embodiment, distributed data processingenvironment 100 includes computing device 120 and computing device 130,interconnected over network 110.

Network 110 can be, for example, a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN) such as the Internet, or a combination of the two, and caninclude wired, wireless, or fiber optic connections. In general, network110 can be any combination of connections and protocols that willsupport communication and/or access between computing device 120 andcomputing device 130.

Computing devices 120 and 130 include user interface (UI) 122 and 132and icon configuration program 124 and 134, respectively. In variousembodiments of the present invention, computing devices 120 and 130 canbe a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a personalcomputer (PC), a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), asmart phone, a thin client, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of executing computer readable program instructions. Computingdevices 120 and 130 may include internal and external hardwarecomponents, as depicted and described in further detail with respect toFIG. 4.

UI 122 and 132 may be, for example, a graphical user interface (GUI) ora web user interface (WUI) and can display text, documents, web browserwindows, user options, application interfaces, and instructions foroperation, and includes the information (such as graphic, text, andsound) a program presents to a user and the control sequences the useremploys to control the program. UI 122 and 132 are capable of receivingdata, user commands, and data input modifications from a user. UI 122and 132 is also capable of communicating with icon configuration program124 and 134, respectively.

Icon configuration program 124 and 134 include user templates 126 and136, respectively. Icon configuration program 124 and 134 are differentinstances of the same program, and reference will be made to iconconfiguration program 124, it being understood that it can apply to iconconfiguration program 134 or any other instances of icon configurationprogram in the data processing environment of FIG. 1. Icon configurationprogram 124 can be an application, plug-in, service, or a built-infunctionality for implementation on computing devices 120 and 130. Iconconfiguration program 124 can learn and estimate the meaning of anemotion icon via a context for one or more users or classes of users.Icon configuration program 124 can automatically convert and displayemotion icons, based on the learning. Icon configuration program 124 canautomatically create new emotion icons, based on the learning andconverting. Icon configuration program 124 can request and receivefeedback as to the efficacy of created emotion icons, analyze thefeedback, and apply the feedback to future uses. Icon configurationprogram 124 can remove unnecessary or inappropriate emotion icons from aconversation and can embed suppressed emotion icons into acommunication, to provide more contextual information for a recipient.

In this exemplary embodiment, user templates 126 and 136 are a group offiles, which contain different templates based on the determined classof the user. A class of the user is determined based on informationreceived about the user, such as a user's current state (e.g., differentcultures based on regions of the world, different demographics and ages,autistic, child, Asperger's, pre-Alzheimer's) and cognitive style. Usertemplates 126 and 136 may control how the positioning, shape, and otherfeatures of a single emotion icon or a class of emotion icons aredisplayed to a user, in a manner which is most cognizable to the user,based on the user's determined current state and cognitive style.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operational steps for automaticallygenerating an emotion icon based on cognitive considerations and usercohorts, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Thefollowing flowchart is described with respect to icon configurationprogram 124 operating on computing device 120, it being understood thaticon configuration program 134 on computing device 130, or any othercomputing device of FIG. 1 may perform the operational steps of FIG. 2.

In step 202, icon configuration program 124 determines the class of auser. In this exemplary embodiment, based on the class of the user, theuser may want to use one of various user templates 126, which is mostunderstandable to the user. The various templates based on the class ofa user can be determined from the user's cognitive styles and currentstate or cohort (e.g., child, autistic, pre-Alzheimer's,demographic/ages, and cultures based on regions of the world), asemotion icons may not convey the appropriate nuances of emotions fordifferent classes of users. Various user templates can control the GUI,spacing, arrangement, sizing, positioning, and user of color, as well asother features, to arrange emotion icons. For example, Anne may use astandard template, whereas Ben, who has autism, may find a template withan altered spacing, different colors, and different arrangements ofemotion icons more useful.

Icon configuration program 124 can learn which user templates 126 arebest for different classes of users over time. The learning may be basedon text analysis associated with the use of icons, the nature of theindividuals communicating, and other analysis methods which allow theprogram to learn. In one embodiment, a user may tap or touch a certainstyle of template, when the user ‘likes’ it (i.e., the user prefersusing that particular template). In another embodiment, iconconfiguration program 124 may learn and estimate the meaning of emotionicons in a conversation using the intensity or speed of typing, choiceof words, and/or repetition of words used by a user in a conversation.Icon configuration program 124 can consider emotion icons in context,including a consideration of actions, locations, and personalities, aswell as ‘inside jokes’ and ‘inside context’ among groups of users. Iconconfiguration program 124 can learn nuances of these emotions, or canreceive manual input from the users as to the contexts of the emotions.In another example, icon configuration program 124 may determine that auser is becoming impatient or nervous (or other emotions) during aconversation, based on the context and known personality traitsassociated with the user.

In yet another embodiment, icon configuration program 124 can monitorconversations in the user's social network, and may discover patterns ofemotion icons or types of emotion icons shared by the user, and maydetermine a ‘tone’ of the different conversations. For example, youngmothers may have a neighborhood group on their chat where they exchangeadvice and keep in touch with each other. Icon configuration program 124may learn over time different types of themes and tones of theconversation, as well as different personas and their usage of emotionicons. For example, Ashley may be overly expressive, while Stephanie maybe showing off in her conversations. Furthermore, various emotion iconsmay become frequently used within the group, and this is recognized byicon configuration program 124.

In step 204, icon configuration program 124 determines the appropriateemotion icon(s) to use in the conversation, and inserts the emotionicon(s) into the conversation. In this exemplary embodiment, as iconconfiguration program 124 learns patterns of communication and personalstyle, the program may automatically create and insert an emotion iconinto a conversation. In one embodiment, this can be done using gazetracking and real-time emotion detection capabilities. For example, anembedded camera may track, in real-time, a user's eyes during aconversation about which finger foods to serve babies, and may noticethat the user's gaze drifts over to an online article, away from theconversation. Icon configuration program 124 may recognize this shift inuser gaze, and automatically insert a ‘smiley’ icon. In another example,icon configuration program 124 may detect the user's real-time mood ofdisapproval in serving blueberries to a 9-month old, and automaticallycreates and inserts a ‘surprised’ smiley as a response to theconversation. In other embodiments, the real-time mood of the senderand/or recipient of an icon can be estimated using camera/gaze tracking,monitoring of typing characteristics (e.g., speed and intensity oftyping), and other mood-tracking techniques. In other embodiments, iconconfiguration program 124 automatically generates an entirely new icon,on-the-fly, based on the class of user. For example, a user iscommunicating with an autistic person and types “:)” for an emotionicon. Icon configuration program 124 determines that, for the recipient,an on-the-fly creation of an entirely new icon with clapping hands iswarranted because this better displays the emotional intent in a mannerthe recipient can comprehend.

In some embodiments, icon configuration program 124 uses known icons andconverts one icon into several icons or several icons into fewer icons,in order to increase the accuracy and/or efficacy of an emotionexpressed, so that the icons are optimized for comprehensibility byvarious classes of users. In other embodiments, icon configurationprogram 124 can convert emotion icons to real facial expressionsdepicted on an image of a human face (e.g., a generic image of a face,or an image of a face known to the parties in the communication). Theuse of real facial expressions may help some classes of users to betterunderstand certain emotional nuances. Optionally, animation may be usedto automatically convey emotions for different classes of users in animproved manner.

In other embodiments, icon configuration program 124 can identifyemotions using a voice-detecting machine learning algorithm whichextracts emotion content from an audio input (i.e., voice or other soundinput), analyzes the audio input, and outputs the closest appropriateemotion icon for the emotion the user wishes to convey. In a similarembodiment, icon configuration program 124 can create a new iconon-the-fly, based on an audio input by the user. For example, a userwishes to respond to a text message, but is not sure which emotion iconbest expresses his feelings. The user speaks: “I am angry at Johnbecause he is mean to me.” Icon configuration program 124 can generate anew icon to appropriately convey the user's emotions to a recipient(e.g., an entirely new icon with certain eye, eyebrow, and mouthcharacteristics to convey anger). In another example, icon configurationprogram 124 may be configured to control ten facial parameters, whereeach facial parameter has ten settings, providing for 10 billionpossible different face emotion icons which icon configuration programcan generate and output to a user. In this example, the controlledfacial features may be: head eccentricity, eye eccentricity, pupil size,eyebrow slant, nose size, mouth shape, eye spacing, eye size, mouthlength, and degree of mouth opening. Head eccentricity may, for example,control how elongated the head is in either the horizontal or verticaldirection. The mouth, for example, can be constructed using parabolicinterpolation routines, and the other features may be derived fromcircles, lines, and ellipses.

In some embodiments, inserting an icon into a conversation is performedmanually by the user, and icon configuration program 124 can suggest anicon(s) for a user when the user is not sure which icons to use. Forexample, a list of emotion icons may be shown as keys of a virtualkeyboard, and icon configuration program 124 may suggest appropriateicons to use by lighting up those icons on the virtual keyboard. Inanother example, icon configuration program 124 may suggest emotionicons to use based on the type of interaction (e.g., relationship orsocial interaction) with the recipient (e.g., certain emotion icons aremore likely to be used by women than men).

In step 206, icon configuration program 124 removes or embeds additionalemotion icons. In this exemplary embodiment, icon configuration program124 can automatically remove emotion icons from a communication when theemotion icons are determined to be inappropriate, excessive, orunnecessary. For example, a user suffering from obsessive compulsivedisorder may perform certain verbal acts or gestures repeatedly, and forno outwardly obvious reason. The use of emotion icons can therefore beexcessive. Icon configuration program 124 can detect when emotion iconsare unnecessary or excessive and automatically remove the excessiveemotion icons from a communication. In some embodiments, iconconfiguration program 124 detects the real-time emotions of a userand/or recipient, based on the techniques described above, and removesemotion icons deemed excessive, based on the real-time mood of the useror recipient. In other embodiments, a filter on a recipient's device canbe used to remove emotion icons, in the case where emotion icons may bedeemed inappropriate, upsetting, unwelcome, or disturbing to a user,based on the user's culture, cognitive state, or other reasons.

In another embodiment, icon configuration program 124 can embedsuppressed emotion icons in a communication. The suppressed emotionicons are latent in the text of a communication, and may be uncovered bythe recipient using a GUI gesture, such as a mouse over, mouse hover, orother GUI gestures known in the art. Suppressed emotion icons can allowa user the opportunity to embed many more emotion icons than is normal,with the understanding that the emotion icons will be suppressed, andthe recipient will receive them only as embedded annotation on anotherwise clean text communication. For example, a recipient with autismmay use the embedded emotion icons as annotation to help provideemotional context and clarity as to the emotional intent the senderwishes to convey (e.g., an insult sent by a sender in gest may be betterunderstood once a recipient hovers over the text, and reveals anembedded ‘smiley’ emoticon). In some embodiments, the presence ofembedded emotion icons may be suggested by an indicator, such as asubtle difference in the color or font of text, or other means known inthe art. Optionally, the indicators can be ‘toggled off’, and thus notbe displayed for a certain piece of text, if desired. Icon configurationprogram 124 can detect possible confusion about the meaning of acommunication for a recipient (e.g., by studying a user's face using afacial recognition system), and automatically reveal the embeddedemotion icons to the recipient.

In step 208, icon configuration program 124 receives feedback. Iconconfiguration program 124 can receive feedback from a user, for example,via a user selection of a GUI associated with a communication (e.g., ane-mail or an instant messaging system). This helps icon configurationprogram 124 to continue to learn the use patterns of a particular user,in order to become more effective and accurate with each use. Forexample, if a conversation seems to have gone well and both parties seemto be in agreement, one or more of the parties to the conversation mayselect a ‘satisfied’ button.

In some embodiments, a speech output (i.e., written or spoken text)relating to an emotion icon may be enabled on a user's device. Forexample, some classes of users may be more familiar with worddescriptions than facial expressions as depicted with emotion icons, andmay more easily understand a verbal interpretation of the emotion of anemotion icon, rather than simply viewing the emotion icon.

FIG. 3 depicts an example conversation in which embedded icons are used,in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

A conversation between two people is depicted, in which the first usermakes a statement 302 in gest. The second user, based on their cognitivestate, does not comprehend that the first user is joking, and sendsstatement 304. The second user has the option to hover over statement302, using mouse icon 306, and reveal emoticon 308 (i.e., a ‘smiley’icon) in order to better understand that the first user is making a jokeand did not intend to be mean in their communication.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of internal and external components of acomputing device 400, which is representative of the computing device ofFIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Itshould be appreciated that FIG. 4 provides only an illustration of oneimplementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to theenvironments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Ingeneral, the components illustrated in FIG. 4 are representative of anyelectronic device capable of executing machine-readable programinstructions. Examples of computer systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be represented by the components illustrated inFIG. 4 include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems,server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, laptop computersystems, tablet computer systems, cellular telephones (e.g., smartphones), multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, networkPCs, minicomputer systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributedcloud computing environments that include any of the above systems ordevices.

Computing device 400 includes communications fabric 402, which providesfor communications between one or more processors 404, memory 406,persistent storage 408, communications unit 412, and one or moreinput/output (I/O) interfaces 414. Communications fabric 402 can beimplemented with any architecture designed for passing data and/orcontrol information between processors (such as microprocessors,communications and network processors, etc.), system memory, peripheraldevices, and any other hardware components within a system. For example,communications fabric 402 can be implemented with one or more buses.

Memory 406 and persistent storage 408 are computer readable storagemedia. In this embodiment, memory 406 includes random access memory(RAM) 416 and cache memory 418. In general, memory 406 can include anysuitable volatile or non-volatile computer readable storage media.Software is stored in persistent storage 408 for execution and/or accessby one or more of the respective processors 404 via one or more memoriesof memory 406.

Persistent storage 408 may include, for example, a plurality of magnetichard disk drives. Alternatively, or in addition to magnetic hard diskdrives, persistent storage 408 can include one or more solid state harddrives, semiconductor storage devices, read-only memories (ROM),erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROM), flash memories, or anyother computer readable storage media that is capable of storing programinstructions or digital information.

The media used by persistent storage 408 can also be removable. Forexample, a removable hard drive can be used for persistent storage 408.Other examples include optical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, andsmart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto anothercomputer readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage408.

Communications unit 412 provides for communications with other computersystems or devices via a network (e.g., network 110). In this exemplaryembodiment, communications unit 412 includes network adapters orinterfaces such as a TCP/IP adapter cards, wireless Wi-Fi interfacecards, or 3G or 4G wireless interface cards or other wired or wirelesscommunication links. The network can comprise, for example, copperwires, optical fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls,switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. Software and data usedto practice embodiments of the present invention can be downloaded tocomputing device 400 through communications unit 412 (e.g., via theInternet, a local area network or other wide area network). Fromcommunications unit 412, the software and data can be loaded ontopersistent storage 408.

One or more I/O interfaces 414 allow for input and output of data withother devices that may be connected to computing device 400. Forexample, I/O interface 414 can provide a connection to one or moreexternal devices 420 such as a keyboard, computer mouse, touch screen,virtual keyboard, touch pad, pointing device, or other human interfacedevices. External devices 420 can also include portable computerreadable storage media such as, for example, thumb drives, portableoptical or magnetic disks, and memory cards. I/O interface 414 alsoconnects to display 422.

Display 422 provides a mechanism to display data to a user and can be,for example, a computer monitor. Display 422 can also be an incorporateddisplay and may function as a touch screen, such as a built-in displayof a tablet computer.

It is to be understood that although this disclosure includes a detaileddescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure that includes anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 includes one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 5 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 6, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 5) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 6 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may include applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and contextual icon determination 96.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles ofthe embodiment, the practical application or technical improvement overtechnologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinaryskill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by one or moreprocessors, an emotion icon to automatically input into a message basedon a class of the user, a recipient of the message, and a current moodof the user and the recipient, wherein: determining an emotion iconcomprises: selecting an emotion icon from a selectable list of emotionicons, or generating, in real-time, a new emotion icon outside of theselectable list wherein the new emotion icon conveys an emotion based onlearned communication patterns of the user and the recipient; thecurrent mood is determined in real time by camera tracking andmonitoring of typing characteristics; and the class of the user and therecipient are based on: an age, a demographic, a culture, a worldregion, and a current cognitive state; inserting, by the one or moreprocessors, the determined at least one emotion icon into the message;and wherein: selecting an emotion icon from the selectable list ofemotion icons comprises: identifying the new emotion icon conveys anemotion based on: learned communication patterns of the user and therecipient, learned communication patterns between different groups ofusers and recipients, and social interaction between the user and therecipient, wherein: the learned communication patterns of the user andthe recipient are based, in part, on: text analysis associated with usedemotion icons and the class of the user.